When “We Can’t Do That” Really Means “We Don’t Do That Yet”

Years ago, we worked with a large company exploring an ambitious new product. The team had done an extensive search for a manufacturer with the unusual combination of equipment needed to make it. 

They came back with the same conclusion: Nobody could do it. 

We found someone in Texas in about half a day. 

The company’s search hadn’t been bad. The issue was that its definition of a qualified manufacturer was built around the business it already had. It was looking for companies capable of producing at enormous scale, even though the immediate question was simply whether the product could be made. 

That distinction comes up frequently in innovation. 

As companies grow, they build systems, processes and financial hurdles around what they know how to do well. Those systems are incredibly valuable. They can also shape the way teams evaluate ideas that operate differently from the existing business. 

A new concept might require a smaller manufacturer. A different distribution model. An unfamiliar channel. A pilot in a handful of locations. Suddenly, a promising idea creates questions the organization isn't accustomed to answering. 

That's often when “we don't have a way to do that” starts sounding a lot like “that can't be done.” 

For leaders, it can be useful to separate two questions: 

Can we prove this works? 

Can our existing organization scale it? 

Both matter. They just don't always need to be answered at the same time. 

In my latest article for Inc., I explore how existing systems can quietly shrink an organization's definition of what's possible, and why finding the smallest credible way to make an idea real can reveal opportunities that initially looked impossible. 

Read the full article in Inc. → https://www.inc.com/jonathan-tofel/your-companys-definition-of-possible-may-be-too-small/91404657